


Boy Wonder

by Jinx_RK1000



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Apocalypse
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-08-26 17:36:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16686073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinx_RK1000/pseuds/Jinx_RK1000
Summary: Mallory isn't a killer, and won't start being one now.Michael deserves a second chance.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was so unsatisfied with how the season ended and how he died that I decided to re-write that ending. There will be suffering, there will be pain, there will be trauma, but there will also be healing, love and a happier ending. I hope you guys like it. Constructive suggestions are welcome.

She never expected to feel so sorry for him, to see his bloodied and broken body on the pavement and feel her own heart breaking. She wasn’t a killer, it wasn’t in her nature to take a life. Several times she tried to tell herself she was doing the right thing, that this would stop the apocalypse and avenge her sisters, and three times she ran over his body... and then she immediately regretted it.   
Her sisters were alive and well in this timeline, and Michael hadn't committed yet any of the crimes she was trying to kill him for, so what exactly was she avenging? What reason did she have in this timeline to do what she was doing? The look on his face was so scared, so innocent... it dawned on her that she was making a huge mistake, and if he died now she wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt. 

Getting out of the car, she came to kneel next to him. He looked nothing like the cruel and cold man she saw back in the Outpost. Physically he looked the same, but the look on his face, his eyes, his expression, his weakness and defencelessness... It was almost like she was looking at a completely different person, and perhaps she really was. She touched his face gently, trying to think of what to do next, and immediately stopped touching as he whimpered in pain. Taking a step back to assess the damage she has done, she took in the full sight of him. 

He was bleeding profusely, both legs and an arm were broken, he had hit his head pretty hard on the pavement and was trembling from head to toe in pain, physical weakness and fear. He wasn’t pretending and she could see it as clear as day in his eyes, every emotion he was expressing was genuine. It made her heart break a little more. Blue eyes turned to look at her, as if they only now noticed her presence. There was a look of hope in his face as he opened his mouth and said in a weak and hoarse voice: 

“Please... help...”

She stared at him with wide eyes. He wanted help from her? Mallory couldn’t control her tears anymore at this point, the guilt was starting to grow and eat her alive. 

“Oh my god, Michael... what have I done?”

The mention of god made him flinch violently, as if the word hurt him. She had almost forgotten he was still the antichrist regardless of how innocent he still was. 

“I’m sorry, I-I shouldn’t have said that... it's a bad habit I have...”, she said, trying to pick him up into her arms and squeezing her eyes shut at how he screamed in pain. “You’re gonna be okay... I just...”

She looked behind her, her car was a little too far away, she wasn’t strong enough to pick him up and he would die if nothing was done. Using a bit of her powers and all her strength, she healed his most fatal wounds, it wouldn't rid him of the pain but it would ensure his survival. This action weakened her a bit, she was no longer the supreme in this timeline, not yet at least. 

“I'm gonna have to drag you to the car. This is going to hurt, but I need you to be strong, okay?”

He couldn’t even nod, he hadn't the strength, but she could swear he heard a very faint “okay” coming from him. With great effort, she dragged him slowly towards the car, being careful not to hurt him further in the process. Getting him inside the car was the hardest part since he couldn’t stand and every little movement caused him immense pain. When he was finally sitting in the backseat, she put the seat belt on him and closed the door. As she walked around the car to get into the drivers seat, she saw his grandmother watching from the porch with cold uncaring eyes. This surprised Mallory who had expected the woman to yell at her for almost killing her grandson. That’s when it dawned on her that Michael wasn’t loved by his family at all... and it reminded her so much of her own parents.  
Without looking back, she sped away, constantly looking in the rear view mirror to see how he was doing. He finally passed out from the pain after a few minutes, and the only sound left inside the car were the sounds of Mallory's quiet sobs in the front seat.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has some much heavier subjects implied. I don't plan on going into that in detail as I think that's too dark even for me, I'll focus more on his feelings and recovery. I feel like some kind of trigger warning is needed though. Hope you like the chapter.

Michael opened his eyes and saw two faces looking down at him, when his vision focused he realized it were two women. Two strangers giving him weird looks. He couldn’t recall ever seeing them, and as he looked around he noticed with horror that he was in a strange house as well. Memories of past traumas flooded into his memory and he bolted upright, his breathing and heartbeat both getting increasingly faster as he ran from the couch to the door, panicking when he realized it was locked with magic and he was trapped there with them. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Not even turning around to see who it was, he bolted to the other side of the room and curled up in a corner, shaking and looking at the two women with wide eyes. 

One of the women, the older one, gave a look of pity and sadness and raised her hand, whispering a few words he didn’t understand, and he could feel his heart rate and breathing going back to normal, the shaking in his hands and legs subsiding. His eyes remained as wide as before and he was still afraid, but he was no longer panicking. He even thought the woman looked kind, but was quickly reminded by his memories of how cruel kind people could be, and so he pressed himself against the wall as she approached him and knelt in front of him. She opened her mouth and seemed to be talking to him, but he couldn’t hear a word of it, not at first, then slowly it was like the volume was turned up again and he finally understood what she was saying. 

“...Academy for witches. We’re not going to hurt you, we just want to help you, give you a place to stay. I can promise you that. I know you probably heard promises like this before and they were broken, but I’m willing to make an unbreakable vow to you to prove I have no ill intentions towards you”, she looked at him apprehensively, waiting for his reply, even a nod would be enough. “So, what do you say?”

He looked at her with a mix of caution and curiosity. The look in his eyes was the look of someone who had heard enough promises like that in his life, and all of them ended up being lies. But the mention of an unbreakable vow, most likely a magical contract, caught his attention. He had never met a witch before, but just the fact she was willing to validate her promise with a binding spell or contract was good enough for him. He thought to himself that maybe he could give this woman a chance, that maybe something was different about her. But if everything went wrong again and she broke her promise, he didn’t know if he could take it. Only now did he remember about the other woman, the younger one, the one who looked strangely familiar, she was sitting on the other side of the room looking down at her lap and... crying? He frowned in confusion, but returned his attention to the older woman and nodded once. 

She smiled sweetly at his response, in a way not even his grandmother had smiled to him before. There were tears forming in her eyes, and that was something he didn’t understand. 

She held out her hand. “Give me you hand then, please, so that I can make my vow.”

He lifted his hand, which was once again shaking, and hesitated for a few seconds before giving in and letting her take it. He flinched when he felt her touch, but didn’t back away, which seemingly pleased her. 

Closing her eyes, she chanted a few words in latin. “Voveo praedonis numquam custodire et facere quicquam nocuerunt tam diu vobis ut ego  
et vivet,” Instantly after she finished saying the words, two silver strings appeared out of thin air and wrapped themselves around their hands, glowing brightly for a moment before disappearing again, sealing the vow. 

He felt something funny, a tingling feeling, and was amazed by what he had seen. Something at the back of his mind told him this was for real, that she really had made the vow, that he had nothing to fear from her anymore. His heart softened for her at that moment, and for the first time he looked at her without fear in his eyes, as if he was seeing her for the first time.  
“Who are you?”, was the first thing he said to her. She smiled at that, seemingly happy that he was finally talking and realizing he probably didn’t hear a word she said before.

“My name is Cordelia, I’m a witch... well, the supreme witch. This is a school for witches, as well as a home for them as many of them have nowhere else to go. You are more than welcome to stay here with us. It’s not common practice to accept boys here, but I can definitely open an exception for you. If you want to stay, that is.”

He wanted to stay. He thought of his grandmother, of their house, his bedroom and all the things he left there, like his stuffed bear which he used to hug for comfort after a particularly traumatic day. Why wasn’t he home now, anyway? The memories were coming back now, the image of his grandmother yelling at him popped up in his mind, a priest hurting him and then the image of the same priest dead, a memory of running outside... and a black car coming towards him once, twice... 

He remembered it all now. Being kicked out, being hit by a car, a young woman coming to help him, darkness and then waking up in this new place. He looked down at his body, seeing blood on it but feeling no pain anymore and seeing no open wound. He gave Cordelia a questioning look. 

“I healed you”, she said, understanding his silent question. “Mallory”, and she pointed towards the girl on the other side of the room. “tried to heal you herself, she has a gift to heal people and animals, but her powers weren’t strong enough yet, so I healed what she couldn’t. Are you still feeling any pain?”

He shook his head and looked at his bare arms, noticing even the bruises and scars given by his grandmother and her boyfriend were gone. He looked at Mallory again, he knew now why she looked so familiar. 

“S-she’s the girl from the street”, she said softly. “I saw her face.”

“Yes, she saved your life.”

Mallory looked up from where she was sitting, having heard her name being spoken. She didn’t see in his eyes that evil megalomaniac that blew up the planet, if that evil was there it was buried deep down, in his eyes right now she saw a childish innocence that disturbed her and made her heart clench with guilt. She had seen glimpses of his memories when she was healing him, and she was sure Cordelia had seen some as well, it was an involuntary occurrence, the images appeared in their minds against their will, as if he was subconsciously crying for help. She remembered that future which never happened, how Cordelia had told them she saw humanity and suffering in his eyes. Now as she looked at them in that corner, she saw Michael accepting that offer of help which he had rejected in the original timeline, and for the first time that day she felt like things would turn out okay this time. 

Michael looked at Mallory again, his 4 year old brain incapable of deciphering the complex emotions she was displaying right now. Cordelia turned to look at Mallory too and gestured for her to approach.  
With an apprehensive look on her face, the young witch did as she was told, and took slow steps towards her supreme and her victim, nothing with sadness how he curled up and pressed himself against the wall again. He trusted Cordelia now due to the magical vow, but had no reason to trust Mallory yet, and she didn’t blame him. But despite the apprehension and fear, he couldn’t stop staring at her with curiosity. There was another reason why she looked so familiar, he just couldn’t remember it very well yet... 

“Uh... So... I’m Mallory”, she said, not knowing where to begin or what to say. 

“H-hi, Mallory”, he replied, in a childish manner. It made her want to cry. 

“I, uh... Are you feeling better?”

He nodded. “P-pain is gone.”

She nodded too, relieved to know that at the very least he wasn’t suffering physically anymore. Emotionally was another matter entirely...

“W-why did you s-save me?”

She wasn’t ready for that question, wasn’t expecting it. Why did she save him again? Could she tell him the real reason? Would it mess up his brain even further to know the full truth? Somehow she felt he wasn’t even old enough to understand it yet. It was a gut feeling that told her he was just a child, despite not looking like one. Realizing she had been staring at him in silence for almost a minute now, she finally replied. 

“Because I saw you were in pain, you were hurt, and your... your grandmother”, she said, noticing how he flinched slightly at the mention of her. “didn’t want to call an ambulance and I thought there wasn’t enough time. I’m... My powers are of healing, I don’t like seeing anyone hurt. I just... wanted to help.”  
He listened to her in silence. His grandmother not wanting to help was nothing new to him, several times she told him she wanted him dead... though he wondered why she never had the guts to kill him if she really wanted that. Mallory’s explanation seemed to make sense to his young mind, she saw he needed help and wanted to help. A kind soul indeed. And still she seemed so sad... 

He gave her a shy and brief smile. “T-thank you.”

“You still haven’t answered if you want to stay here or not”, said Cordelia, and he looked at her again, having forgot she was there for a brief moment. 

Slowly, he nodded. Anywhere seemed better than his grandmother’s house. 

Appearing to be ashamed for some reason, he lowered his eyes and his head. “Are there any... any other m-men around here?”

His voice came out barely louder than a whisper. The flashbacks Cordelia saw when she had touched his head to heal it an hour ago came back, as well as some wounds she noticed as she was healing him, and something clicked in her mind. Her eyes widened. Could it be... 

“N-no, no man at all! It’s just us and my other girls. I’m sure they will like you as much I do now.”

He visibly relaxed and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Giving Cordelia a shy smile, he nodded once more. “Alright. I’ll stay.”

\-------  
The rest of the day went by, but not without a few surprises for Cordelia and Mallory. They were both shocked to discover Michael was only four years old and that his physical growth had happened overnight, he told them so and they had no reason to disbelieve, not when his eyes showed so much honesty. They didn’t ask him anything about the things he went through, for fear of making him panic again, and stuck to asking him simpler things such as his favorite food, favorite animal, what kinds of cartoons he liked to watch... They learned he was very fond of cats but that the one he had died all of a sudden, that he loved spaghetti, enjoyed watching any cartoon with animals in it, that the kids in the neighborhood didn’t want to play with him, that was extremely afraid of the dark and that he really wanted to get his stuffed bear back.

Cordelia made a mental note of that last one. She would definitely get his bear for him, and have a little _chat_ with his grandmother as well along the way. She needed to know how deep the story of his life went, and confirm a horrible suspicion that had been plaguing her thoughts the entire day.

Michael was special, and she could see that as clear as day. How special exactly she didn’t know, but it didn’t matter to her right now. He needed her, and she vowed to protect him, and that is exactly what she would do.


	3. Chapter 3

_He sat on his bed looking thoughtful. A small blank notebook in one hand and a black crayon in the other. He saw a woman on the tv saying that drawing and panting were a way of expressing feelings, thoughts and ideas. He couldn’t put his feelings into words, so he put them in drawings instead. He had several of them glued to the wall in his bedroom, drawings his grandmother had miraculously allowed him to keep, and they all had the same color scheme – black and red. Thinking hard on what he wanted to express today, he put the tip of the crayon on the paper and started drawing with short precise strokes, as precise as possible for a four year old mind trapped in an adult body. He continued his drawing for about eight minutes, switching between the black and the red crayons. When he was done, he gave his new masterpiece a sad and frustrated look._

_Two monsters, one taller than the other, with long claw-like fingers and both with glowing red eyes. One seemed to be wearing a dress. They stood menacingly at an open door of what was most likely a bedroom. He sighed, once again he had drawn his everyday life, and it frustrated him because it wasn’t what he had intended to draw this time, but he just couldn’t help it. Silently, he got up, took a piece of tape and stuck the drawing to the wall, between the drawing of a black cat and the drawing of one of the dark red-eyed monsters looming over someone. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at his drawings. There was nothing else to do, he had no school to go to, no chores to do that day, no friends to play with, no toys besides his beloved stuffed bear, no permission to leave his room and even his really old nintendo64 was broken. Boredom filled his life, boredom, pain and fear. He had never known anything else. Sighing, he laid back down on his bed, closed his eyes and thought of far away places where he could be free. He was almost falling asleep when he heard the door opening with a loud crack.  
As usual, the red-eyed monster never let him have a moment of peace. _

_The look on his grandmother’s face was one of hatred when she found him next to the corpse an hour later. He was sorry, he told her so but she wouldn’t believe him. Everything was a blur, his vision, the sounds, the room felt like it was distorting and spinning around him. He barely even registered the things she was saying to him. He felt her hand on his arm, dragging him outside, he felt himself getting up and running aimlessly into the street… and the sound of his bones breaking as something very heavy hit him once... twice... thrice..._

\--

He bolted upright in his bed, crying and gasping, only to find himself being pulled into a sudden hug. With his mind still in a haze from having just woken up, he panicked, desperately trying to get away from whoever was holding him. That was when strange words were suddenly whispered into his ear... foreign words he couldn’t understand, being spoken by a familiar voice. He stopped fighting against the embrace, he felt his panic subsiding and his heartbeat and breathing going back to normal. Whatever those words meant, they were calming him down like magic. His mind began to clear, and he remembered where he was. 

“It was just a bad dream, I’m here, you’re safe now...”

 _It wasn’t just a dream_ , he thought bitterly as he finally recognized the voice. Cordelia. How did she know he was having bad dreams? _Was I being loud?_ He felt a little embarrassed at that thought.

Her hand touched the top of his head, making him flinch at the unexpected touch and for a split second his instincts told him to run, but the memory of her magical vow brought him a sense of safety that made him finally relax. She wouldn’t hurt him, she couldn’t, he had to believe in that. She was being more kind and patient than anyone else ever was, and so when she lied down next to him and pulled him into her arms, he didn't hesitate and immediately curled up against her, slowly closing his eyes...

She never left his side throughout the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lighter chapter for a change, but just wait til the next one. *evil laughter*

Michael opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by three unfamiliar faces. Three girls looking curiously at him and whispering to each other. Their words seemed to be harmless, merely wondering who he is, but Michael felt a rush of anxiety, his suspicion of strangers growing once more, his eyes widened. The girls noticed it and immediately stepped away from him, holding up their hands. Michael, who was ready to bolt towards the door, felt a little confused. Why were these potential predators stepping away? He curled up on his bed, trying to get away from them, even if just by mere centimeters. One of the girls, the youngest it seemed, took a tentative step forward, smiling softly at him, sympathy and a little bit of pity shining in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry. My name is Zoe, these are Queenie and Madison, we live and study here too."

He looked at this Zoe with wide eyes but a hint of curiosity as well. The girl seemed harmless enough, and even though he knew how deceiving appearances could be, he still felt inclined to believe she meant him no harm. She exhaled an aura of kindness that was hard to miss, even for a child like him. The other girls didn't move or speak yet, but he already didn't feel the same kindness coming from them. Strangely enough, they didn't seem hostile either.

"I-I am Michael. I... Miss Cordelia took me in."

Then it hit him: where was Cordelia? He remembered falling asleep in her arms after waking up from a particularly bad dream, she had treated him like a son. Why wasn't she there anymore? Did he dream her presence there as well? He was loss in thought when one of the other girls, the one named Madison, spoke to him, pulling him back to reality.

"Where do you come from? We don't usually accept boys here, you know? You must be pretty special for Cordelia to make an exception."

He looked at her very seriously, she had something in common with him, he felt it, he just didn't know what. He felt the same with Cordelia, and a little bit with Mallory. "I come from Murder House. I don't know why Miss Cordelia is being so kind."

Queenie's eyes widened and she took a step towards him. "You come from that abandoned mansion?"

This girl sounded a little distressed, and he cautiously moved a little further away. "I was born there, b-but lived next door with... with g-grandma."

Zoe looked at the other two. "I'm sure Cordelia had a good reason to take him in, she knows who she can and can't trust" and then she looked at him. "Welcome, Michael, I hope you like it in here."

Before he could reply, and he was going to, another voice was heard from the door.

"For goodness sake, I told you to wait to meet him downstairs, you're gonna scare him this way."

His eyes brightened a little and he gave her a little smile, which she promptly returned as she went to the side of his bed and pulled him into a hug, kissing the top of his head in a very maternal way. He returned the hug and whispered "Morning, Miss Cordelia" barely enough for the girls to hear. The girls watched the interaction with curiosity. 

"Good morning, sweetheart", the supreme replied. "It's ten o'clock already. Are you hungry?"

Michael nodded, fidgeting with Cordelia's sleeve. 

"Go get dressed then, I found some clothes that might fit you. I will be back in a few minutes, okay?" She said, earning a nod from him. She the turned to the girls. "Come."

One by one, the girls followed Cordelia outside. He waited a minute before finally getting up, he was paying attention to their voices outside the door, trying to figure out what they were saying. He was sure they were talking about him. He hated when people talked about him behind his back. Slowly, he got up from his bed and tip toed towards the door, pressing his ear against it. 

"A child? Like, he's... retarded?"

"No, I mean he really is a child. He's literally four years old, his body grew suddenly, but just his body. And never call him that again, understood?"

"Understood, ma'am..."

"I think I'm beginning to understand."

"Well, I'm not. Why is he like that?"

"No one knows, not even him. Some curse or spell placed on him, maybe?"

"You brought him, shouldn't you know more about that?"

"I found him and helped him, that's all, I don't know anything else. What are you doing standing outside his room anyway?"

"We just left his room, Delia should be back any moment now."

"Did you do anything that scared or hurt him?!"

"No, girl, relax, we were just meeting him."

"Where did Delia she go anyway?"

"To make his breakfast, said something about pancakes. She never made pancakes for us."

"Are you envying a child?"

"No, just saying."

"He's really cute, btw. Too bad he ain't an adult yet."

Michael had heard enough, and backed away from the door. Their curiosity was natural, he understood that much, but that word they used to describe him before - retarded - echoed in his head. His eyes started to fill with tears. Being called that by his grandmother almost every day for a few months now made him feel awful hearing it again. Sure enough, another girl defended him right after, sounded like Mallory, but still, that word... The door handle started to turn, startling him a little. Wiping his tears away with the back of his hand, he ran to his room's private bathroom and shut the door rather loudly. 

"Michael? Are you ready?"

Cordelia. He recognized her voice anywhere. He opened his mouth to reply but closed it again immediately. If he said honestly that he hadn't even started to get ready, he thought she might get upset, but if he says he is almost ready he will be lying. He decided on saying nothing, and turned on the faucet to wash his face, like his grandmother taught him - back when she still cared about him. He still had no idea why she suddenly changed and became so cruel, and he missed her affection dearly. Cordelia didn't say anything anymore, but he heard her opening the wardrobe. Probably picking up some clothes for him, he assumed. Tiredly, he dried his face, hoping his eyes wouldn't look red from crying, and opened the door. There she was, putting a green long sleeved shirt and jeans on the bed, as well as a pair of black and white sneakers. Suddenly, it occurred to Michael that those clothes must have belonged to some other man, for they were not new and definitely not his. Cordelia promised no man lived there, he remembered, and it calmed him, but he still wondered who those clothes belonged to. Should he ask, he thought. 

"W-who..." he began, and trailed off. Should he really ask? "The clothes."

It wasn't really a question, more like a broken sentence, but Cordelia understood anyway. She smiled, a little apprehensive for what his reaction would be. "They belonged to a boy named Kyle, he used to live here with us, was our butler at one point, but he moved to his own apartment now, not far from here. Don't worry about it."

He tensed a little, and then relaxed... and tensed again when he realized something else. "S-so he c-comes here to v-visit?!"

Cordelia had forgotten about this detail, honestly forgot. "Yes... but not everyday!"

"Is he coming today?!"

She shook her head and stepped towards him. "No, no, he isn't. But you don't have to worry, alright? He would never hurt you, or anyone else for that matter. I can tell him to stop his visits for a while, how about that?"

He nodded after a moment of hesitation, why would Cordelia be lying? Quietly, he picked up the clothes from the bed and returned to the bathroom. About five minutes later he came out fully dressed and looking much calmer, though visibly uncomfortable. Cordelia made a mental note to remind herself to buy new clothes for him. Ideally, she would have to take him to the store with her, but she wondered if he would be alright with that.

"Come, breakfast is ready. I hope you like chocolate pancakes."

His eyes lit up and he smiled, nodding enthusiastically. "They're my favorites!"

She took his hand and lead him to the kitchen, like she was guiding a little child through a maze, and it felt like a maze to Michael, it was much bigger than his old house, and so... white. All the walls were white. Why? It reminded him of the hospitals he saw on tv series - series he was fully aware he shouldn't be watching due to his age, but nobody had to know. He looked around in awe at the paintings, only now really noticing them, and then suddenly stopped at the sight of one in particular.

"G-grandma?!"


	5. Chapter 5

With an accelerated heart beat, Michael walked past Cordelia and went straight downstairs. The woman in the portrait had a striking resemblance to his grandmother, and it couldn’t be a mere coincidence. He never knew if his grandmother had any siblings but he was starting to believe she did, and if she did and one of them had a portrait hanging here… 

_Does Cordelia know my grandma? Is she taking me in because of her? Is she actually siding with grandma and fooling me? Was that vow she took even real or was she just fooling me?_

If his trust in Cordelia was a mirror, there would be several cracks in it. He didn’t stop running until he found the front door, and there he hesitated. Should he go outside, the asked himself. He had only been outside once in his life, and it led to him being brought here, he didn’t want a repeat of that experience, but he also wanted to be left alone and he could hear Cordelia calling out his name. He didn’t suddenly hate her, but he also didn’t want to be in her presence in that moment. When he heard his name being called again, he opened the door and stepped outside, closing it behind him. His senses were immediately overwhelmed. 

When he left his grandmother’s house he had been too consumed by pain, fear and grief to pay attention to his surroundings, but now he was seeing everything. It was one thing to see the world through a window or a tv screen, but seeing it in person was something else entirely. When he looked through the windows in his grandmother’s house, he saw their backyard, the neighbor’s house, the Murder House and the street right in front. It wasn’t much and he saw it everyday, but here… There were trees and bushes of a vivid green, flowers of many colors, the sky was so bright and blue, the sun warmed his whole body and he could feel the gentle breeze on his face. It was extraordinary. It was… magical. He almost forgot why he was outside in the first place. 

-

Cordelia was confused. She could swear she heard him say ‘grandmother’, and she was going to ask him what he was talking about when he decided to run away. Before she started following him, she took a look at what he had been looking at when he said this. A portrait of her mother Fiona. Almost involuntarily, she recalled when Mallory brought him to the house. At that moment, his magic, which was still dormant and buried deep inside, sent flashbacks to her through the connection that was established between them through the healing magic she was using on him. She recalled seeing glimpses of his life, some of them quite disturbing. Before, she hadn’t paid much attention to the glimpses to what his grandmother looked like, but now that she was remembering it the woman’s face stood out to her more than everything else. She looked just like Fiona. Cordelia took into consideration that she may have distorted the image in her mind, but she was almost certain she hadn’t. Now that she thought about it, her mother did mention having a sister at some point many years ago, but she never said the woman’s name or showed any pictures. They were estranged it seemed. Fiona Goode was a bad person in many ways, she was a neglectful mother and was always putting Cordelia down despite actually loving her daughter, didn’t seem to have many genuine feelings for most people, was extremely sarcastic and ironic and went to extreme lengths to get what she wanted, but she wasn’t really cruel. What Cordelia suspected Michael’s grandmother did to him, based on the flashbacks she got from him, was something Fiona would find abominable and would never do. If she was right in her assumption and Michael’s grandmother was her aunt, then it was no wonder her mother never spoke about her or to her.

Suddenly things were starting to make sense, a few pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit into their places. 

She bolted after him when she realized how long she had been there thinking, and called out his name several times. When she couldn’t find him, she reached out to Zoe and Mallory to help find him. She was still suspicious of Mallory, despite finding the girl to be very sweet and talented, as the story of how she found Michael hurt by pure coincidence seemed fishy. For now, however, she would have to trust the girl.

-

Mallory was a bit shocked to hear that Michael was nowhere to be found and she wondered, as she looked for him around the house, if she had made the right decision in bringing him to Ms. Robichaux’s Academy with her. The flashbacks of Michael killing her sisters was still fresh in her mind and she dreaded the possibility of him going down that path again, even though something told her, deep down, that he wouldn’t.   
When she couldn’t find him inside, she went to look for him outside, starting with the large gardens. It didn’t take long for her to find him.

Michael was sitting under a tree with his eyes closed and a cat in his arms. He seemed to be taking a nap. Immediately Mallory felt guilty about what she was thinking. The boy looked angelic and peaceful from this point of view, and the cat seemed comfortable enough in his presence to take a nap too. As quietly as she could, she approached him and touched his shoulder, shaking it gently. The cat was awake the moment it heart her steps and it looked at her curious blue eyes, not at all frightened by her presence. 

“Michael?” She said, and he opened his eyes just a little. “Come on, you haven’t eaten your breakfast yet. The pancakes will get cold.”

He opened his eyes completely now and sat up, groaning a little as he did for he much preferred to stay there and go back to sleep. Then he yawned. He hadn’t slept very well last night. 

She smiled at first, at how cute he was being, and then sighed. “And try not to disappear again like this, you had us all worried, kid. What happened?” 

It was then that he actually looked at her and his expression turned into a soft frown as he started to remember why he had ran to the garden in the first place. “I j-just got upset by s-something.”

“By what?”

He shook his head, he wasn’t in the mood to talk about it or to get up for that matter. The cat purred and pressed its head against his hand and he petted it. It reminded him of his own cat which he lost, but this one had a collar around its neck and a name tag, so it probably already belonged to someone. He had, he couldn’t deny it, the devious desire to steal the cat and never give it back to its human, but he couldn’t actually do it, the guilt would consume him. He was ignoring Mallory’s existence at this point. Her frustrated and slightly annoyed sigh made him remember she was there, and he felt a shiver run down his spine, for his grandmother sighed just like that when she was frustrated with him, which often led to her becoming angry and what came next was never pleasant. This time when she went to touch him again, he flinched and moved away. This confused her. 

“Whoa, calm down, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to escort you back inside, Cordelia was worried and you still need to eat your breakfast.”

Cordelia again. His mind had already come up with the wildest theories for why the woman in the portrait looked like his grandmother, and he wasn’t brave enough to just walk up to Cordelia and ask her. He still didn’t trust her, the doubts were still there, for the time being he would force himself to ignore them, mostly because he realized as he explored some of the garden before, that he had nowhere else to go.   
He didn’t look at Mallory but he nodded to what she said before, but before he could even stand up he had one more thing to do. 

It would be rude to just get up and leave without properly saying bye to his new and only friend. He didn’t want to upset his friend. So he picked up the cat, gave it a hug, kissed the top of its head and said “Bye bye, kitty. Please come see me again.”  
The cat meowed softly and purred happily. Then, and only then, Michael stood up and followed Mallory inside. 

Mallory’s guilt at trying to kill him with that car grew a little more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a little uncertain as to how I'm going to continue this story. I could use some ideas.


End file.
